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Wed, 21 Feb 2018 16:29:31 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.3.15National Lacrosse League Announces Partnership with Facebook Watchhttp://sportsmediareport.net/2018/01/01/national-lacrosse-league-announces-partnership-with-facebook-watch/
http://sportsmediareport.net/2018/01/01/national-lacrosse-league-announces-partnership-with-facebook-watch/#commentsMon, 01 Jan 2018 18:17:27 +0000http://sportsmediareport.net/?p=2590The National Lacrosse League (NLL), the largest men’s professional indoor lacrosse league in North America, announced today a new partnership with Facebook Watch to feature the newest show from NLL Productions, ReLax. The new feature show will focus on insights, reactions and analysis of each weekend’s games by NLL Productions Tyson Geick and Ashley Docking with Inside Lacrosse Contributor Pat Gregoire.

ReLax will air exclusively on Facebook Watch on Mondays at 6pm ET, allowing fans to interact and ask questions during the first hour of the show. To watch ReLax, visit www.facebook.com/NLLReLax.

The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is North America’s premier professional indoor lacrosse league. Founded in 1986, the NLL ranks third in average attendance for pro indoor sports worldwide, behind only the NHL and NBA. The League is comprised of 11 franchises across the United States and Canada: Buffalo Bandits, Calgary Roughnecks, Colorado Mammoth, Georgia Swarm, New England Black Wolves, Philadelphia Wings, Rochester Knighthawks, San Diego Seals, Saskatchewan Rush, Toronto Rock and Vancouver Stealth. The 2017-18 NLL season, commemorating the League’s 32nd year, began December 8th during #FaceOffWknd. For more information, visit NLL.com and find the NLL on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

]]>http://sportsmediareport.net/2018/01/01/national-lacrosse-league-announces-partnership-with-facebook-watch/feed/0National Lacrosse League (@NLL) Faces Off With 32nd Season Amidst Great Business Momentum, Expansionhttp://sportsmediareport.net/2017/12/07/national-lacrosse-league-nll-faces-off-with-32nd-season-amidst-great-business-momentum-expansion/
http://sportsmediareport.net/2017/12/07/national-lacrosse-league-nll-faces-off-with-32nd-season-amidst-great-business-momentum-expansion/#commentsThu, 07 Dec 2017 19:23:04 +0000http://sportsmediareport.net/?p=2520The National Lacrosse League (@NLL), the largest and most successful professional lacrosse league in North America, will kick off their 32nd season on Friday, December 8th amidst unprecedented growth and business interest, and great hope for additional expansion across the United States for the country’s fastest growing team sport.

“This will be a landmark year for the league, its partners, its leadership and most importantly its athletes, coaches and fans,” said NLL Commissioner Nick Sakiewicz (@NLLcommish). “The interest in all we are doing; from our digital first stance to our careful but aggressive expansion plans to our amazing community programs designed to grow the game for all have created buzz around the NLL that hasn’t been seen before, and we are excited to continue to make news in the coming months as pro lacrosse, especially the exciting indoor game, moves to a level never before seen.”

Sakiewicz is now in his second year at the NLL helm after a long career in professional soccer, which included twice winning MLS Executive of the Year.

The 2017-18 season will begin on December 8 with the defending champion Georgia Swarm visiting the New England Blackwolves, the Toronto Rock visiting the Buffalo Bandits, and the Colorado Mammoth visiting the Vancouver Stealth. On Saturday, December 9, the Calgary Roughnecks will visit the Rochester Knighthawks to complete opening weekend. All games will be shown on NLL TV, the league’s award winning digital platform and CBS Sports Digital, with the Toronto vs. Buffalo matchup featured as the NLL Game of the Week livestreamed on Twitter.

The offseason has already been one of the busiest in NLL history, with two franchises already on board for 2018-19; the San Diego Seals (owned by Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai) and the Philadelphia Wings (owned by Comcast Spectacor).

The response by new partners to joining the fast-rising group has been impressive, with the NLL targeting key geographic areas that have seen a huge growth not just in lacrosse, but in indoor (box lacrosse) at the grassroots, high school and even collegiate level. Those areas that have been targeted as expansion markets include the Washington/Baltimore corridor, the New York metropolitan area, the San Francisco/San Jose area, and Dallas, Texas.

Among the key measuring sticks for growth going into the season are:

STREAMING SUCCESS: The NLL adopted a digital-first approach last year. Its Twitter Game of the Week averaged 344,000 viewers in its inaugural season. Its own OTT, NLL TV channel boasts 25,000 subscribers. The NLL also recently announced a distribution deal with CBS Sports Live.

HOME GROWN GROWTH: More and more of the League’s players are familiar to U.S. audiences with 55% of roster players coming from American colleges. The season-opening rosters will have no less than 21 Native American athletes as well, more than all other North American sports COMBINED.

FILLING THE HOUSE: NLL attendance continues to grow, with preseason attendance this year up almost 20%, with a preseason record crowd of 12,857 in Calgary two weeks ago. The League’s average attendance last year of almost 7,500 per match trailed only that of the NBA and NHL in terms of professional indoor sports – beating out indoor soccer, indoor football and the WNBA. It marked the third straight season of attendance growth, directly relating to a 12% increase in net box office receipts in 2017.

INCREASED REVENUE: The NLL’s revenues grew by an impressive 11% last year. Key in that growth was the emergence of NLL TV, new league-wide sponsorships and increased ticket sales.

NEW PARTNERS: New business partners for 2017 both at the league and team level have led to a sponsor revenue growth of295% from 2016 to 2017.

CBS Sports Digital

Covo Drinkware

Signature Lacrosse

Egalet Corporation

Lacrosse.com

Twitter

Xumo

Veraview

Right to Play

UHWK

Krossover

Warrior – New Balance

Epoch

StringKing

OVERALL GROWTH IN LACROSSE: The NLL success has been a key narrative in the overall growth of lacrosse again this year. The sport has seen 12 consecutive years of impressive growth with numbers increasing by at least 20,000 participants each year. The NCAA has seen an uptick of 33% in the number of teams playing the sport over the last five years while there’s been a comparable increase of 27% on the high school level.

For more information about the National Lacrosse League, visit NLL.com.

]]>http://sportsmediareport.net/2017/12/07/national-lacrosse-league-nll-faces-off-with-32nd-season-amidst-great-business-momentum-expansion/feed/0National Lacrosse League Announces the Addition of Joel Feldhttp://sportsmediareport.net/2017/12/06/national-lacrosse-league-announces-the-addition-of-joel-feld/
http://sportsmediareport.net/2017/12/06/national-lacrosse-league-announces-the-addition-of-joel-feld/#commentsWed, 06 Dec 2017 18:10:36 +0000http://sportsmediareport.net/?p=2511The National Lacrosse League (NLL), the largest men’s professional indoor lacrosse league in North America, welcomes Joel Feld as a broadcast consultant for the league. Within the league, Joelwill be responsible for creating league wide production standards, shoring up current production technology and increasing the production value for the broadcasts and NLL Productions. In turn,Joelwill be creating a roadmap for the future of NLL TV broadcasts.

Joel Feld has devoted his award-winning career to the media industry. He is an accomplished executive, producer and advisor with broad experience in the sports and news broadcast, cable, emerging platforms and digital media businesses. Feld has held leadership positions in management, programming and production, content and program development, linear and digital content creation and syndication, acquisitions and negotiations, talent, talent development, operations and business strategy.

“We are excited to officially welcome Joel Feld as part of our broadcast team. With his wealth of knowledge and experience in the industry, we aim for a continued investment in our broadcast-digital strategy,” said NLL Commissioner Nick Sakiewicz. “We will continue to focus on improving the quality and delivery of our great product to our fans.”

Feld has played key roles in building, launching and developing several sports television networks including, CTSV (now CBS Sports Network), NESN and ONE World Sports. He began his career at ABC Sports where he produced hundreds of live domestic and international events including, four Olympics, Monday Night Football, Monday Night Baseball, ABC’s Wide World of Sports, the America’s Cup, the World Cup, and the Tour de France. Feld also served as a senior producer and executive producer of ABC SportsBeat with Howard Cosell and as co-creator and executive producer for ABC SportsNight, the network’s late-night sports variety show that ran in 1987. He has also developed and produced numerous documentaries, specials and long-form content/scripted specials for CBS Sports, MTV, HBO Sports and A&E. Feld also contributed to the launch of FOX Sports in 1994 and served as a producer on CBS This Morning Saturday when the show was re-launched in 2011.

Most recently, Feld served as Executive Vice President, ONE World Sports, a U.S. based national sports network delivering exclusive world-class events live from the U.S and around the globe. He was responsible for developing the network’s programming strategy, negotiations and business affairs, production, broadcast/technology operations, marketing and digital strategy. By the time of its sale, the network grew its distribution to 45 million homes across linear cable, satellite, broadband, OTT services and social media platforms.

]]>http://sportsmediareport.net/2017/12/06/national-lacrosse-league-announces-the-addition-of-joel-feld/feed/0National Lacrosse League Partners with CBS Sports Digital to Stream Regular Season, Playoff Gameshttp://sportsmediareport.net/2017/12/05/national-lacrosse-league-partners-with-cbs-sports-digital-to-stream-regular-season-playoff-games/
http://sportsmediareport.net/2017/12/05/national-lacrosse-league-partners-with-cbs-sports-digital-to-stream-regular-season-playoff-games/#commentsTue, 05 Dec 2017 18:29:32 +0000http://sportsmediareport.net/?p=2500The National Lacrosse League (NLL), the largest men’s professional indoor lacrosse league in North America, today announced a partnership with CBS Sports Digital to stream live and on-demand NLL games on the subscription OTT service SportsLive, including regular-season and playoff games.

“We are thrilled to continue to build upon our historic broadcasting partnerships with the addition of CBS Sports Digital. The future of sports is an ever-changing digital viewing experience, and bringing in a world class organization and platform like CBS Sports Digital is truly exciting for our fans,” said NLL Commissioner Nick Sakiewicz. “Last season we witnessed the additions of some major broadcasting partners and as a result more viewers are tuning in to NLL TV then ever before.”

This marks the 13th partnership announcement from the League since November 2016. In addition to streaming NLL games, CBS Sports Digital will promote NLL games across its digital platforms, creating an opportunity to expose the NLL to a new audience of sports fans.

To stay connected to your team, the latest scores and developments in the National Lacrosse League, please visit: nll.com.

]]>http://sportsmediareport.net/2017/12/05/national-lacrosse-league-partners-with-cbs-sports-digital-to-stream-regular-season-playoff-games/feed/0NLL’s Philadelphia Franchise Announces Its Brand Name and Logohttp://sportsmediareport.net/2017/11/29/nlls-philadelphia-franchise-announces-its-brand-name-and-logo/
http://sportsmediareport.net/2017/11/29/nlls-philadelphia-franchise-announces-its-brand-name-and-logo/#commentsWed, 29 Nov 2017 19:17:38 +0000http://sportsmediareport.net/?p=2477The National Lacrosse League (NLL), the largest men’s professional indoor lacrosse league in North America, today announced the brand reveal of one of its latest expansion teams.

On September 14, the National Lacrosse League announced that Comcast Spectacor was granted ownership of the Philadelphia expansion team. Today, the team has officially announced its name, the Philadelphia Wings, during an event outside of Xfinity Live in Philadelphia, PA. The Philadelphia Wings will officially begin play during the 2017-2018 season at the Wells Fargo Center.

“The Wings are clearly the favorite, and we’re happy to give the fans what they want,” said Lindsey Masciangelo, Executive Director of Business Operations. “Respecting the fans’ desire for the Wings name, we wanted the look to feel fresh, but also pay homage to the history of indoor lacrosse in Philadelphia.”

The Wings logo features a throwback to the previous team’s mark with a familiar “W,” but slightly refreshed. The color scheme features red, gold and charcoal; a combination that no other team in the NLL possesses. The “P” on the side of the uniform, representing Philadelphia, will serve as a secondary logo. It is also a connection to Comcast Spectacor’s other Philadelphia-area professional sports team, the Philadelphia Flyers, of the National Hockey League.

“Today marks yet another great milestone for the city of Philadelphia, its team, and our league,” said NLL Commissioner Nick Sakiewicz. “Philadelphia fans are amongst the best and most passionate in the world and today, they spoke loudly through the fan vote revealing the Philadelphia Wings as the team’s official identity. There are so many exciting things going on in the NLL right now that also mirrors this City’s dynamic sports scene. It’s great to see the fans get their Wings back as we inch closer to seeing the best lacrosse action in the world starting here in the 2018-19 season.”

For more information visit www.wingslax.com and @NLLWINGS to follow the team.

]]>http://sportsmediareport.net/2017/11/29/nlls-philadelphia-franchise-announces-its-brand-name-and-logo/feed/0Where is Twitter Streaming Making An Impact In Sports? How About Lacrosse?http://sportsmediareport.net/2017/02/16/where-is-twitter-streaming-making-an-impact-in-sports-how-about-lacrosse/
http://sportsmediareport.net/2017/02/16/where-is-twitter-streaming-making-an-impact-in-sports-how-about-lacrosse/#commentsThu, 16 Feb 2017 17:02:59 +0000http://sportsmediareport.net/?p=1939There was huge buzz around Twitter’s mega partnerships with leagues like the NFL and how the live streaming of games on the platform will be transformative. While there is no doubt those partnerships are still evolving and have become a great conversation and marketing piece on what is already a massive media machine, there is always debate over how live streaming with a platform like Twitter could move a niche property.

We may have gotten a glimpse into that this past weekend with of all sports lacrosse. Lacrosse, along with rugby, continue to be two of the fastest growing team sports in North America, according to industry organizations like the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association. Their demos are pretty young, very engaged and quite authentic and dedicated, and their content distribution is still emerging. That’s where things get interesting, when a distribution partner like Campus Insiders gets involved.

Earlier this year, Campus Insiders, which is part of Chicago-based media company Silver Chalice, announced a deal with Twitter that would allow the live stream of 300+ live college events from a variety of sports including football, basketball, lacrosse, soccer, baseball, volleyball, field hockey, water polo and swimming. They started in the fall with games of The Mountain West and have gone on from there, to various degrees of success.

However this past Saturday was an eye-opener, as a men’s lacrosse match between #5 Loyola University Maryland and #15 University of Virginia made history as the first NCAA men’s lacrosse game ever streamed live on Twitter and drew over 680,000 unique viewers. It marked the most viewed college live stream for any sport on Twitter thus far, and showed that a streaming audience of engaged fans will support a digital first platform, especially when driven by a marketing and viewership platform like Twitter.

“Campus Insiders is thrilled with the response to the first lacrosse stream on Twitter,” said Adam Anshell, vice president of networks and live events for Campus Insiders. “It’s a perfect match to be able to utilize the wide reach of Twitter to bring great content to the underserved and hungry lacrosse fan base. We’re excited to bring more games in the future.”

So is this the model and the measuring stick for other sports, from soccer to wrestling? Or is an outliar? “There is no doubt that the business model is changing for networks, whether that is for niche college sports like lacrosse or for sports like Drone Racing and Drag racing,” said Chris Lencheski, a professor at Columbia, longtime sports marketer and Vice Chairman of Board & Chief Executive Officer of IRG Sports + Entertainment. “The live streaming business for traditional sports properties is still maturing and the monetization will be figured out. However for a smaller, targeted and younger demo, if you can find the audience and deliver them the content on whatever device they choose and be diligent about constant engagement, you are going to find your way, and this elite lacrosse matchup is a great example, and maybe a glimpse into the future.”

While even those pushing cord cutting and cord shaving don’t see The Final Four or The Super Bowl moving away any time soon, the live stream as an alternative for the big event, as we saw with this year’s game in Houston, can become an add on with impact, and for other events, it can be the go-to rather than the alternative. For years lacrosse has looked to lead, maybe now they are finding their way, with some savvy partners in the digital space.